Edinburgh Napier University is the first Scottish education establishment to launch dedicated sales professional courses.

Napier said the division will address growing concerns Scotland is suffering a sales skills gap.

It will offer students accredited training for sales professionals and student courses in sales and sales management as part of their degree courses.

The sales division will also offer consultancy services to Scottish SME's

The new division will be based at the university's Edinburgh Institute at its Craiglockhart campus.

Napier has launched the division in partnership with Sandler Sales Training Scotland and The Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales in the United States.

Scottish entrepreneur Mike Rutterford, co-founder of Archangel Investments, is one of a number of Scottish business leaders backing the scheme.

He said: "Scotland is great at inventing things but lousy at selling them and until now there's been no mechanism to address that professionally.

"The lifeblood of any successful business is sales, but people are scared to use the word and think it's a bit grubby. But at the end of the day everything we consume other than the air we breathe is directly being sold to us."

Napier Sales division director, Tony Douglas, added: "It is widely recognised in the Scottish business community that the sales skills required to meet today's business challenges are lacking in this country.

"In contrast, American business schools have been leading the way in this field for the last 10 years

"We need to banish the reputation of dodgy salesmen and recognise the essential role sales skills play in making a business profitable."